Some students get up early for a club called “Girls Learn International.” These local students connect with girls in a war-torn country.

Girls Learn International videoconferences with female students at the Zabuli Education Center in Afghanistan.

The girls see and listen to their peers for whom school is not a given. “It gives you a real appreciation for what they’ve experienced,” said Rachel, a Sharon sixth grader.

They exchange ideas from everyday talk about the weather to profound observations about the value of girls’ education.

Teacher Laura Smolcha says this experience is a world away from the days of simply looking at a poster of another country on a classroom wall. The Sharon students have realized they aren’t very different from their new-found friends across the globe. “As different as Afghanistan is from Sharon, MA I think that they have similarities whether it’s through music or art or reading,” said Smolcha.

“There are a lot of Americans who like don’t pay attention to the other side of the world they’re in their own little bubble but there are a lot of us who do care and who will help others around the world,” said a Sharon sixth grader.

“I think in our country we kind of take school for granted a little bit and the fact that they couldn’t go to school and that they work so hard to go to school means a lot more than just going to school because we have to,” added another Girls Learn International member.